Wait Till You Father Gets Home

I attended a "traditional" (if that’s the word) East Belfast funeral last Friday. My mum’s next door neighbour had died after a fairly long bout of ill-health; aged 80 and survived by her husband of 60 years. A believer, though perhaps not what might be called a religious person, and a good woman. I have known and loved the family all of my life.

The Minister was brilliant in the way only a man who knows the deceased and understands the East Belfast culture could be. He talked about a life growing up in the shadow of the ‘yard, marrying a shipyard worker, supporting "Glenturn", loving her family and friends.

The bit that struck home with me was his reference to the total belief that this lady and her husband had in the importance of the application of both love and discipline  in the rearing of their children. The Minister had been told by both the son and daughter of how , if they ever stepped too far over the line, the famous line "wait till your father gets home" would be uttered. Given that "father" was like a better looking version of Robert Mitchum, this was not an idle threat. Thus the Minister was told anecdotally of the occasional beating, but one administered with love, which "never did us a button of harm". Perhaps, he mused, something was lost when the family ceased to be ruled by the combination of love and discipline.

I was minded of this when we battled through Amos 6 & 7 last Saturday. Because that’s virtually what Amos is telling the house of Israel – except this Father knows exactly what they have done to overstep the mark.

And yet it’s worse. How many times have they been told this before and ignored the warning? They are being totally complacent about the potential for, and the impact of this threatened punishment (I can empathise here. My dad was just as big as my next door neighbour but, although we were told "wait till your father gets home" as well, I don’t recall him ever laying a finger on us!).

You can sense in the huge power of the verses, a God torn between passionate rage and passionate love for this idle, undeserving nation. Tough justice is administered, and yet you just know how much He wants to cease the punishment and to never have to apply it again.

There won’t be too many more East Belfast funerals like the one I referred to. There certainly won’t be too many more stories about life around the shipyard, Mersey Street Primary and discipline administered with love. Whether it’s a style of discipline I would ever have considered as a Dad is a moot point. New age man doesn’t hit his children and 21st century law forbids it anyway. Perhaps though, new age man has chosen a new age God, retaining all the warm loving bits and dropping all the hard stuff about anger, justice and retribution. And yet I guess God hates our complacency every bit as much now as he did 3,000 years ago.

He’s returning of course. But like having a shipyard worker dad doing overtime, we are not certain of exactly when. I do though have a fair idea of what He is going to want to have a word with me about, which is why I never cease to be grateful for the cross!

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